Console: Xbox 360/ PlayStation 3
Grant City is overrun with crime and violence, the people are living in fear and the police are powerless to stop the thugs who have begun to take over the city. Dead to Rights is centred on Slate, a bad mannered tough guy cop and his K-9 unit Shadow, together they patrol the mean streets of Grant City in an attempt to try and bring some sort of order to the chaotic metropolis. The basic plot is to control the dynamic pair in an effort to take back the city from the gangs and stop the evil GAC organisation.
The game is a rehash of Dead to Rights which was released in 2002 for the previous generation of consoles. Playing it, you will instantly be reminded of the game ‘Max Payne’ or the movie ‘Sin City. The game has a very cinema noir feeling to it and while there are slight similarities between Max Payne and Dead to Rights: Retribution, the use of bullet-time/focus and somewhat similar plots, Dead to Rights manages to pull away from its counterpart but for the record this is unfortunately not a very good thing.
Initially you will be fooled by what Namco and Volatile call a ‘hybrid combat system’ and you are not to be blamed we were also suckered into this by novelty of playing a feral dog chasing down criminals and pouncing on them as they flee the scene of a crime. The game relies heavily on your ability to be ability to use both Slate and Shadow, as the feisty canine you will leap, sprint, pounce, hunt and bite your way through whole gangs while as Slate you will wield a variety of guns as well as deadly fists in an effort to tackle the city’s crime. Slate also has some other useful abilities, ‘focus mode’ which slows down time allowing for greater accuracy, disarm your enemies and use their weapon against them and hell you can even use your foe as a human shield.
Unfortunately none of these save the game, the novelty of being Shadow soon wears off and at times the game feels very sluggish, we’re all up for games that feel more real life but when you end up running around in a circle because Slate isn’t responding to your commands and to make all that worse the camera controls are a complete nightmare. When you are being shot in the back while running around in circles you will desperately try to steady the camera so you can try and find the gunner and chase him down only to get to him and end up spinning around him while clumsily reaching out to grapple his weapon away from him. The sense of a noir crime thriller quickly dissipates when you realise that as hard as the voice actors are trying the dialogue just doesn’t work and the cut scenes felt out of synch with the sound.
Overall this is a game to be rented, Konami should have known better than to just rehash the original and tweak the storyline a small amount, Dead to Rights: Retribution just doesn’t work. If you are looking for a game with mindless awkward action and violence then maybe you should rent it but save your pennies for a better game.
Rent or Buy: RENT?!
Gold Coins: 3/10
